{"id":17151,"date":"2025-11-20T18:35:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T18:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=17151"},"modified":"2025-11-20T18:35:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T18:35:48","slug":"exclusive-nevada-congresswoman-sends-letter-to-governor-lombardo-demanding-transparency-and-accountability-on-rescinded-boring-company-penalties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=17151","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Nevada Congresswoman sends letter to Governor Lombardo \u2018demanding transparency\u2019\u00a0and accountability\u00a0on rescinded Boring Company penalties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Representative Dina Titus, of Nevada, sent a letter to Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo Wednesday night, urging him to hold Elon Musk\u2019s tunneling company, Boring Company, accountable after firefighters were burned by chemicals<\/a> in its tunnels and after the company was caught dumping wastewater<\/a> in Las Vegas manholes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis project in Southern Nevada has been riddled with safety and environmental concerns since the start,\u201d wrote Congresswoman Titus, a Democrat, and one of four politicians representing the state of Nevada in the U.S. House of Representatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the letter, which Fortune <\/em>is first to report, Titus wrote that the way Governor Lombardo\u2019s staff appeared to have handled an OSHA safety investigation into the Boring Company, and its resulting fines, \u201craises larger questions about whether Southern Nevadans can trust that their health and safety are being protected.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was all done outside of the official process that allows entities to challenge citations made by Nevada OSHA in a manner that safeguards transparency and accountability,\u201d Titus wrote in the letter to the state\u2019s Republican governor. Steve Davis, president of the Boring Company, and Sean Sims, head of Loop safety and security at Boring, were also copied on the letter.<\/p>\n

The letter, which extensively cites reporting from Fortune<\/em> from over the last two years, comes shortly after Fortune<\/em>\u2019s most recent investigation<\/a> published last week, which revealed that three \u201cwillful\u201d citations that had been issued against the Boring Company in May, were rescinded a day after Boring Company\u2019s president called a representative from Lombardo\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Nevada OSHA and the agencies that sit above it have maintained that the citations did not meet necessary legal requirements, and were therefore not valid. And the agency said that the governor\u2019s office frequently fields concerns from businesses in the state.\u00a0However,\u00a0Fortune<\/em>found<\/a>\u00a0that the rescinding process itself and the case file\u2019s lack of explanation for their removal went outside OSHA\u2019s operating procedure. A document was also altered in the public record, which raised alarm among Nevada regulators and lawyers in the state, who said what took place was inappropriate.\u00a0Reilly, the representative from Lombardo\u2019s office who interfaced with Boring Co. regarding the citations, told Fortune<\/em> in its previous story that \u201cno record was edited at the direction of me, the Governor\u2019s Office, DIR, B&I, or any other entity I am aware of,\u201d adding that the \u201cinsinuation\u201d that these officers had directed such a deletion was \u201cincorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her letter, Titus asked whether Lombardo would cooperate with a public hearing and asked him to commit to make the agreed monthly meetings between Nevada OSHA\u2019s Chief Administrative Officer and the Boring Company public. She also asked for specifics regarding which officials had initially signed off on the citations before they were issued, and who made the decision to rescind the citations against Boring Company, among other requests.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease release the final justification document and\/or all draft justification documents behind the decision by your Administration to rescind the fine against Boring, including any documents that have been deleted from public records,\u201d the letter requests.<\/p>\n

Fortune<\/em> had reported<\/a> in its investigation that people within the agency were frightened of examining Boring Company after two staffers who worked on the case had been disciplined. In the letter, Titus asked what actions Lombardo\u2019s Office is taking to ensure that safety concerns about its Vegas Loop project were addressed appropriately and what procedures were in place to protect Nevada OSHA staffers with concerns about retaliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe push from Boring executives to build the tunnel quickly without consideration for worker and public safety is clear,\u201d Titus wrote.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Wednesday, Nevada\u2019s OSHA issued a lengthy press release titled \u201csetting the record straight,\u201d re-iterating many of the same points it told Fortune<\/em> in the previous article and insisting there was no political influence.<\/p>\n

Governor Lombardo\u2019s press secretary did not respond to an immediate request for comment for this story.<\/p>\n

\u2018Too many cooks in the kitchen\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In an interview this week, Titus said she found Fortune<\/em>\u2019s findings to be \u201chorrendous\u201d and said she was concerned for the safety of her constituents. She raised explicit concern about Boring Company being caught dumping wastewater in Las Vegas manholes. \u201cIf they\u2019re willing to do that. What other shortcuts are they taking?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Until now, Titus, whose district includes Las Vegas, said she hadn\u2019t closely followed the progress of the Las Vegas Loop project, which has been underway since 2019<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been watching it so closely,\u201d she said. \u201cI guess I should have, since I didn\u2019t realize that nobody else was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Titus said that, between the Clark County regulators, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the Division of Industrial Relations, Nevada OSHA, and the Governor\u2019s Office, there were \u201ctoo many cooks in the kitchen,\u201d and she recommended more centralized responsibility with the Boring Company project moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think looking at how to streamline that, or just put more responsibility in one place that can be held more accountable, would be a good reform,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Titus is advocating for more transparency: She said she is pushing for a public hearing on the matter and, in her letter to Lombardo, asked that he open up Nevada OSHA\u2019s meetings with Boring Company to the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Titus said that she is contemplating working with someone to file a federal OSHA complaint \u201cif that seems appropriate,\u201d as she openly questioned whether the legislature needed to \u201ctake another look\u201d at the power given to the state OSHA plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to take some guts to stand up to it, and demand some changes, but I think people here in Nevada are willing to do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

You can read the full letter below:<\/p>\n